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First Game in Big Apple, Rotten to the Core

Always a blast to see the Cubs play in my hometown of New York City. We only get four games at Citi Field this year with Chicago only making one trip to NY in 2010. Monday night was the first game of this week’s four game series at Citi and man…it’s great to see the Cubs in person, but it would be a lot more fun if you can see them get the win.

Two teams struggling is what you have with the Cubs and Mets playing each other. Hard to really tell what to expect although with Wells on the mound facing Not Santana for the Mets and our roster of guys against a not-so-healthy Mets team, on paper I expected the win. Screw paper. Paper don’t know jack. And whatever paper Lou wrote his new line up down on can be thrown away as well. Tonight’s line up was the first time Lou has toyed with the new order which is supposed to generate runs and get our otherwise unproductive offense going against lefties. Considering we see three lefty pitchers in this series alone, it’s a great time to rearrange guys to hopefully get results. Only problem, it didn’t work.

Did we hit? Sure, nine hits in the game. How many did the Mets have? Nine. We both had nine hits and one error. The difference maker? The fact that the Mets timed their hits to come while runners were on base, and at times in scoring position. Pagan’s two run shot was the game winner and the five run seventh inning did us in tonight. Wells was strong through six innings…I would’ve left him in for a seventh. Instead, in came James Russell and he was all over the place as was Mr. Notre Dame WR/P. Unfortunately the timely hits weren’t there again tonight and our bullpen’s weakness proved to be too much for our measly one run to overcome.

Byrd looked good in the field and at the plate, even pressing on to first base as if nothing happened after getting beaned in the helmet by what was thankfully a change-up. Even Soriano had a couple of hits. Here is the box score for the Cubs from tonight’s game:

Even Randy Wells got on base twice to try and help himself out. But guys like Lee, Rami, Soto and Baker just struggled too much. It was a pretty ugly game all around. One team’s bullpen was going to ruin it for that team and it just happened to be the Cubs’ night tonight to do so.

I expect Lou to go to this lineup again against the next lefty they face. I don’t figure he’ll completely toss the option aside after one poor outing. But this team has to generate offense. Especially in a park the size of Citi Field. Soriano’s first blast would have been out of most parks but ended up being a double after reaching 415 feet. We have to take advantage of the giant outfield and get extra base hits, not keep trying to hit one out and end up all or nothing. That doesn’t bode well for us the majority of the time.

Here are some photos from my trip to Citi Field tonight:

The inside of Citi Field before the game started and the Cubs were taking BP:

The scoreboard announcing the night’s starting pitchers:

Mets fans were extremely excited about Ike Davis, 1B, being called up for his MLB debut:

The kid did real well in his debut getting his first MLB hit and RBI. Believe he had some help:

I may have been sitting by myself, but I wasn’t there alone of course as plenty of other Cubs fans were present taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of Citi Field:

In the end though, Mets fans had the last laugh and had a blast wherever this guy was:

While Cubs fans were left wondering why no O, hops on D and a shotty bullpen seem to be the theme this year, while looking aro
und trying to find this guy:

So now both clubs are holding tight at 5-8, trying to figure things out quickly while the season is still young. Four game series so lots of baseball left to play, but we need to win the game we are supposed to win. In order to do so, we’re going to need Lou to possibly allow our starters to go seven occasionally, timely hitting, consistency in the bullpen and continued quality from our starting rotation. Zambrano pitching tomorrow night. I can’t remember the last time I saw Z have a quality start in New York unfortunately, however, he’s the supposed ace of this staff. Aces serve as stoppers and step up with W’s when the team needs it. Well, Arizona just lost to St. Louis on the West coast which means we just lost another full game to the Cards. Zambrano…get your best stuff ready because even though it’s early…we definitely need it.

Looking forward to going to tomorrow night’s game (and this time carrying one more layer with me…it was COLD). April baseball in New York and the Cubs are in town. Time for this team to make some noise and set the tone in a positive manner for the rest of 2010. Go Cubs Go!

Writing for:

MLB.COMVINE LINE MAGAZINE - The official publication of the Chicago CubsBASEBALL DIGESTCONNECTICUT TIGERS - Class A Short Season Minor League Affiliate of the Detroit Tigers
Writing Samples available HERE